


The Lights Come Back On

by brokenlyrium



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 16:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2075139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenlyrium/pseuds/brokenlyrium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title: The Lights Come Back On</p><p>Fandom: Dragon Age</p><p>Characters: Ilianna Hawke and Varric</p><p> Word Count: 1,069</p><p>Trying to write something emotional after only two hours of sleep and then seven straight hours of work is a pretty disastrous idea, but here it is. alsowhatisupwiththattitleugh</p><p>A LITTLE BACKGROUND V IMPORTANT PLS READ: Ilianna is one of my (many) mage Hawkes who is a spirit healer. I have this headcanon that during her escape during Lothering, darkspawn blood somehow got into her eyes and blinded her (after making her incredibly sick and nearly killing her).</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Lights Come Back On

**Author's Note:**

> Title: The Lights Come Back On
> 
> Fandom: Dragon Age
> 
> Characters: Ilianna Hawke and Varric
> 
> Word Count: 1,069
> 
> Trying to write something emotional after only two hours of sleep and then seven straight hours of work is a pretty disastrous idea, but here it is. alsowhatisupwiththattitleugh
> 
> A LITTLE BACKGROUND V IMPORTANT PLS READ: Ilianna is one of my (many) mage Hawkes who is a spirit healer. I have this headcanon that during her escape during Lothering, darkspawn blood somehow got into her eyes and blinded her (after making her incredibly sick and nearly killing her).

The first time had been an indescribable, incredible rush, followed by the worst emotional crash she had ever felt. She didn’t leave her room for nearly a week, refusing to eat, refusing to speak to anyone. Varric had come for her every day, calling her sweetly, but she didn’t have the heart to answer. She didn’t let him in until the eighth day, head hanging low and her arms wrapped tightly around her waist as if they were the only things holding her together. He took her hand in both of his, squeezing tightly. She could hear the worry in his voice as he begged for an explanation. She tried, so many times she tried to tell him. It wasn’t until another three days she had the courage.

Oranna had lit only one candle, whose light flickered faintly from her right. Normally the light was for his benefit; it didn’t do much for a blind woman. But tonight, for just a moment, things would change. She could hear his footsteps as he ascended the stairs. Bianca was placed just outside her door, and then a knock.

“Hawke?” he called. There was a hesitance in his voice, and she knew he didn’t expect to be let in.

“Come in, Varric. Please.” Her own voice was desperate, but for what she had no idea. Her heart pounded in her throat, her palms growing sweaty and cold as she clenched the blankets around her. She had managed to construct a sort of nest out of pillows and bed sheets and was sitting in the middle of it. Her door opened and closed, and his heavy footsteps moved closer.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I haven’t heard from you in days. I thought you’d died in here.” His voice said he was trying to make a joke, but his worry overrode any emotional cover up. She reached out her hand and felt both of his, the cool leather adhering to her skin. She gave a short tug.

“Come here.” she said. “I…I have something to ask you. To show you.” she added quickly. His hands tightened for just a moment before they disappeared. She heard the sound of his coat and gloves being dropped to the floor, of his boots being shoved off and kicked to one side before the bed bowed beneath her, pulling her forward as he joined her in her nest. She reached for him again, grabbing his arms, now bare. His skin felt warm, the soft hairs tickling her. 

“Which one is it?”

“Both, sort of.” She had planned all of this to the letter, had been so confident until the soft knock on the door moments ago. She simply found her way to his hands, gripping them tightly to stop her own trembling. “I…I discovered something.”

His grip tightened. “What is it?” She could feel the bed shift again as he moved closer; their knees barely brushed together. “Hawke, are you all right? You look sick.”

“I…I did something, Varric.” she said after a long, torturous silence. “Something wonderful. I didn’t even know it was possible.”

“Andraste’s great flaming arse, woman, you’re scaring me.” he snapped. “ _What did you do_?!”

She felt her lips curl into a smile for the first time in eight days. “Varric, I can make myself see.” She heard nothing but his breathing. He was probably staring at her like she’d just grown a third head. “It’s only temporary, maybe a few minutes, but I used that healing spell Anders taught me. Maybe…maybe I can fix it. Someday. But for now…I want to do it again, Varric. I want to see _you_.”

He didn’t speak for the longest time. She held onto his hands like it was the last time she would ever do it, and she feared she might.

“I’m not much to look at,” he said after a while, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “But if you really want to, I’m not gonna stop you.”

She almost burst into tears as relief flooded through her, relaxing muscles she didn’t know she’d had tensed. She let go of him, feeling the magic pulse underneath her skin. She saw the white glow as she closed her lids and pressed the magic into her eyes. It was a tingling, almost burning sensation. She put as much of the energy into her spell as she could. When she found the strength to open her eyes, she started crying. Varric was looking at her, his jaw opening and closing as he tried to find something to say.

“Brown,” was finally all he said, and a large smile broke out on his face; it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “Your eyes are brown.”

She laughed, taking her dwarf’s face in her hands. “Shush, just let me look at you.” Her hands traced the angles of his face as they always did, but now she had the sight to go with it. His peach colored skin, strawberry hair and light stubble, his rather large nose she loved to kiss. His eyes, brown like hers but several shades lighter, stayed on her face, framed by dark eyelashes. Her hand dipped lower, running through the fine hairs on his chest. They were darker, almost red, and he laughed as she stroked him. Varric’s hands circled her waist and pulled her closer. “You really are as attractive as you told me.”

He laughed again, and she laughed, and they sat together, holding each other and giggling and crying. She kissed his nose, his forehead, his mouth, reveling in the look on his face when she pulled away; his eyes were closed, mouth hanging slightly open. He was leaning toward her, slightly, something she had never noticed when they were intimate. Varric didn’t open his eyes when he asked, “How long will it last?”

“I don’t know.” she answered, and pressed her forehead to his, hands resting on his shoulders. “This is only the second time I’ve done it. I don’t want it to go away.”

Varric shook his head. “It won’t. We’ll figure this out somehow. I promise.”

“We?” she laughed as colors turned dull and shapes began to fade. She nearly choked on her sobs, but managed to croak, “Last I heard, Tethras, dwarves can’t use magic.”

He laughed, but there was no heart in it. “I can read, you high horsed mage.”


End file.
